


Give Me A Sign

by puddlejumper9



Category: Criminal Minds (US TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Deaf!Emily, F/F, Misunderstandings, Romance, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-03-30
Updated: 2018-06-28
Packaged: 2019-04-14 19:45:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 8,053
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14143221
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/puddlejumper9/pseuds/puddlejumper9
Summary: Based on the prompt "Emily is a deaf information translator so JJ attempts to learn sign language and gets it adorably wrong"Emily has just started her new job - a translator for the FBI. She is looking forward to being able to hide in her office all day and not have to deal with people. Unfortunately, the BAU seems to have other plans.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I blame [w00t4ewan](https://archiveofourown.org/users/w00t4ewan/pseuds/w00t4ewan) for this. They sent me a list of prompts and suddenly writing happened.  
> Beta'd by [Phoenix Falls](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Phoenix_Falls) who is wonderful!  
> I have the first couple of chapters done. I am hoping this will be relatively short, I have a plan for how it will go but it could go dramatically off rails.  
> I started thinking it would be cute and fluffy, but then the first chapter was slightly angsty. I promise that it's not gonna be an angsty story!
> 
> It's set in an ambiguous timeline, after Elle and Gideon have left and after Henry is born. Will isn't in this story.

JJ let out a huff of frustration. The BAU had been asked to review a letter sent to the media; the original was in Arabic and a translation was supposed to have been provided by the NCAVC translators. And therein lay the problem – the provided translation made absolutely no sense, there were no notes with it, nor any insight as to why it was such a mess. It had been a problem for a couple of weeks, she knew several of the other teams at NCAVC had also been having trouble with shoddy translation work. The work was always better when sent back, but JJ was sick of having to send files back for correction. Whoever kept fucking up was wasting time. Time that people didn’t have. The BAU team had to review the letter, verify what it said and if the threat was genuine.

Running a frustrated hand through her hair she gathered the files into her arms and stormed out the door. Her mind was on the last case, a serial killer in Breckenridge who targeted young children. It hit too close to home, she couldn’t imagine losing Henry, and ever since becoming a mom, cases with kids just threw her. Held up by bureaucracy, they’d been minutes too late to rescue the last victim, and his screams still echoed in JJ’s ears. She didn’t want that to happen again. People’s lives may depend on her team’s ability to verify the letter and get a profile out as soon as possible, and whoever was doing such a terrible job at translating was putting lives at risk. It infuriated JJ. Their work at the FBI was important, and how anyone could think that it wasn’t, that they didn’t have to translate properly, was insulting.

Shaking off those thoughts, JJ entered the translators’ office. She’d never been down before, having previously sent either another agent down or just strongly worded emails, and she was curious to see what the office was like, and to see who would be on the receiving end of her dressing down. Looking around, the office was surprisingly sparse. There were no personal effects or photos of family, JJ had almost been expecting something like the lair Garcia had created in her office. However, this office looked like no-one worked there, JJ thought to herself that it could explain everything, no one actually worked here, and someone was just running the translations through Google Translate. That would explain why the translations they’d been getting were so terrible. Footsteps behind her stifled the laugh at her internal joke. Turning she saw a tall brunette in a dark pantsuit walking into the office, frowning down at the file in her hands. Obviously another person finally fed up with the lack of coherency in the translations.

“Hey, they’ve really been messing up the translations recently, haven’t they?” JJ joked, smiling at the newcomer and moving to the side to give her space.

The brunette ignored JJ, still frowning at the folder and walking to the desk where she sat down, pulled a pad of paper and pen towards her and started writing. JJ frowned, and awkwardly cleared her throat, a request for attention that was completely ignored, as was the “Excuse me, ma’am,” JJ had called out. She rolled her eyes, great, not only was this woman terrible at her job, she was a bitch too. Figuring that actions would speak louder than words, JJ threw the file down on top of whatever the woman was writing and stormed out, heading back to her office while mentally composing a scathing email to that woman’s superior.

Reaching the BAU bullpen, JJ headed for the kitchenette, needing a coffee to face the rest of the paperwork waiting for her in her office.

“Hey JJ, where’ve you been?” Reid asked as he poured a frankly obscene amount of sugar in his coffee.

JJ groaned in frustration, “Well, the translation for the letter we’re supposed to analyze came through,” she thumped a coffee mug onto the bench “and it was awful. Like, I don’t speak Arabic, but even I could tell that the translation was, if not wrong, at least terribly done. How are we supposed to do an analysis of something if our translators can’t do their job properly?”

“It’s okay JJ, we’ll get there, maybe the rough translation is just because whoever wrote the original letter wasn’t a native speaker of Arabic?”

“I thought about that Spence, but there weren’t even translator’s notes with it. Usually they will at least leave a post-it note or something to say that. I went down to the office, and the woman there completely blew me off, like full on ignored me,” she shrugged. “I dunno, she seemed pretty stuck up. I just left the file on her desk, hopefully she’ll get us the translation soon. Or at least an explanation.”

Huffing out another sigh, JJ took a large sip of her coffee, pulling a face as it burnt her tongue. At Reid’s stunned and mildly concerned expression she smiled.

“I’m okay Spence, just, I’m sick of feeling like we’re always just one step behind the guys we’re trying to stop. That last case, that little boy. We were so close. We should’ve… I’m angry that this woman’s bad translating might cost more people their lives, if we had a decent translation, we could already be building a profile, and figuring out what’s happening,” she shook her head, smiled again and nodded towards her office. “I’d better get back to work, at least the rest of the files on my desk don’t need translating.”

JJ spent the rest of the morning sorting through the files on her desk, prioritizing and sorting, and then handing them to the rest of the team for consults, setting a couple aside to run past Hotch as ones that the team may need to head to. She was interrupted by her stomach rumbling and decided that it was time to take a break for lunch. Grabbing the files for Hotch she dropped them at his desk before heading off to grab something at a nearby café.

When she returned, she saw the brunette from the translation office, head tilted back, laughing at something Morgan had said. A small, traitorous voice in JJ’s head informed her that the woman was really very cute when she smiled. That voice was immediately quashed by the fact that cute or not, the woman had completely ignored her earlier, and was terrible at her job. She leveled a glare at the other woman as she climbed the stairs to her office. No wonder the translations had been so terrible recently, that woman was spending her time flirting with agents, and not doing her job.

JJ was pleasantly surprised when the file containing the letter and the translation was sitting on her desk. Opening it, she was relieved to see the translator had actually done a decent job this time, the translation was legible, and there were notes, highlighting areas where the language used by the author of the letter did not match the vernacular a native speaker would use as well as highlighting other inconsistencies with the letter. It would seem the woman wasn’t entirely incompetent when she wasn’t wasting time flirting with agents.

By the time she had gathered all the notes for the case, and headed out to gather the rest of the team to finish working on the profile the woman was gone. JJ decided not to give her another thought until the next time she needed something translated, there were more important things to worry about. Like getting this case finished so she could get home and give her son a huge hug.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Once again, massive thanks to [Phoenix_Falls](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Phoenix_Falls) for beta reading this fic. You are amazing!  
> Also, thank you so much to everyone who has commented, kudos'd and subscribed/bookmarked this fic! This is my first foray into writing for six years, and having such a positive response has really boosted my confidence.  
> So here's chapter two, featuring definitely not straight Emily, and friendship! (although possibly not the friendship you're wanting...)

Emily was stressed. She hadn’t been expecting to start her job until next week, but had received an email requesting if she could start immediately. She had none of her aids sorted out, her office wasn’t set up, but apparently there was a backlog of things that needed translating due to how the previous translator had left the job and they needed to be cleared asap. So with all her books and equipment still in boxes, along with most of the contents of her new apartment, she put on the suit she’d worn to her interview, and braced herself for the day. It all starts with how you present yourself, as her mother was so fond of telling her.

Her day didn’t get any less stressful. The world wasn’t designed for people who have disabilities. Emily learned this as a child, and while things can be done to make it more accessible, Emily had always found that people often just didn’t try. Emily knew sign language, she knew how to lip-read, she could often fill in the gaps by reading body language, but still, not being able to hear the world around her was frustrating sometimes. And her first day as a translator at the FBI’s National Center for the Analysis of Violent Crime was one of those frustrating sometimes. She had expected the FBI to have provided a translator - as ironic as a translator needing a translator seemed - for her first day to help her get acquainted with people and get sorted, but she was left to fend for herself at reception. She had to navigate to her new office by herself, asking for directions by typing on her phone.

By the time she had finished up with the paperwork with her new boss - a rather dour man named Graham - she was looking forward to spending the day in her office, working on translations and not having to interact with any more people. She wandered down the hall to her new office and began mentally planning how she would set it up when all her gear was delivered. The desk was facing away from the door for some unknown reason, that was going to cause problems until she could set up an alert system to let her know when people walk in. The shelves were mostly bare only a couple of books left from the last occupant scattered around. Her desk had a computer, pens, paper and a frankly obscene number of files waiting to be translation. It wasn’t a large office, but it was better than working in a bullpen where other people might try and get her attention and think she is ignoring them.

Emily spent the next couple of hours working her way through the files on her desk. Most of them were relatively easy translations of letters and journals belonging to suspects, victims or prisoners. Some of the files were confusing, they’d already been marked complete, but had been returned, as the work that had been done on the translations was shoddy at best. She wondered just what had happened to the last person to hold this position if that was the standard of work they were doing before they left.

Deciding a coffee would help her decipher the notes left in the file she was currently working on, Emily headed to the nearby breakroom, taking the file with her. She was relieved to find the break room empty, and spent fifteen minutes at a table puzzling over the noted and sipping at her coffee before something finally clicked and she hurried back to her office to make notes before she forgot.

Still annoyed at the layout of the office, she wondered if she could rearrange it to make it easier to see when people needed her. However, she was more focused on the file in her hands as she entered her office again, so she headed straight for her desk and began scribbling down her theories along with an accurate translation. Her focus was broken when a different file was thrown down on top of the pad she was currently writing on. Emily stared at it for a moment, cursing the fact that she had no way of knowing when people were entering her office, and that it had caused her to jump, before spinning in her seat to catch a blonde woman storming out of her office.

Emily went to chase after her, but made it to her door before deciding there was no point. Explaining would be too difficult and Emily just didn’t have the emotional energy to want to do it, so she went back to her desk, put the file aside, and continued working on the file she had been, feeling mildly spiteful but mostly just wanting to get the first file done while she had a rough idea of what the original translator had been trying to write in their notes.

Eventually Emily managed to get to the file that had been dumped in front of her. Looking at the file, she could understand why whoever had brought it down was so frustrated, the notes said it had been delivered to a news outlet, and the BAU needed it translated asap so they could verify what it said, and they also needed an analysis of the letter to see if it was genuine, and if the wording of the original indicated if it could be a hoax of not. Emily felt bad for the person who was supposed to be looking over the translation that had been sent up originally, it was hardly English itself, there was no way someone could do any analysis on it. So she went into great detail in the notes she was writing up for the translation, providing both the translation as well as writing up an explanation for why she had drawn the conclusions she had. Reading the original letter, it had become apparent that whoever was writing it was not a native Arabic speaker, someone was trying to incite panic by sending a letter to the news threatening terrorist attacks. She finished up her notes and decided to take the file up personally so she could explain to the woman that she hadn’t deliberately been ignoring her.

Emily wandered through the BAU bullpen flicking through the file to try and figure out who she had to give it to, something she knew she should have done earlier but hadn’t gotten around to. Agent Jareau, communications liaison for one of the BAU teams. Walking up the stair to Agent Jareau’s office, Emily noticed the door was closed and the office empty so she decided to ask one of the agents in the bullpen for advice.

Derek Morgan was trying to find a way of procrastinating doing the paperwork that was in front of him so he was people watching. As he was doing this he saw a woman walk into the bullpen, look through some papers and head up to JJ’s office before looking over the bullpen for advice. Deciding that this was a sign from the universe that the paperwork could wait, he put on his most charming smile and went to greet the woman. “Hi there, welcome to the BAU, JJ’s out at the moment. Can I help you with something?”

Emily noticed the tall, well-muscled man approach her and start to speak. Once he had finished greeting her, she signed slowly and deliberately, “I am deaf, sorry,” she went to grab her phone to type a message to show him, but stopped when he started signing back.

“Hey, no problem. My name’s Derek, if you were looking for JJ, she’s at lunch at the moment, but should be back soon,” his smile becoming softer and slightly more genuine, causing Emily to relax for what felt like the first time that day.

“Thanks I’m Emily,” Emily replied, a relieved smile forming. “I just need to drop off this translation for her. The note said it had to be done asap, and I think she thought I was ignoring her when she came into my office earlier so I just wanted to explain that it wasn’t on purpose.”

Derek opened the door and gestured to the desk. “Just leave it there, she’ll see it when she gets in, and I’m sure she isn’t mad, we’ve just got back from a tough case, so she may have been a bit short with you, but it’s fine. She’ll be happy to have the translation back so fast. And if you want to wait for her, you can keep me company while I ignore my paperwork,” he added with a grin as the both headed back down the stairs.

“Well, you are the first person I’ve actually been able to talk to today,” Emily quipped back, smiling and shaking her head. “I guess it wouldn’t do to leave you alone without an excuse to not do your paperwork.”

Emily talked to Derek for about ten minutes, until she began to feel guilty for being away from her desk and for stopping Derek from doing his paperwork, no matter how much he insisted he welcomed the distraction. She began getting up from where she had been perched on an unused desk next to Derek’s “As much as I’ve enjoyed talking, I really should get back to work. There is a literal mountain of files waiting for me in my office.”

“Alright, but you should take my number in case your ‘literal mountain’ collapses on you,” His fingers and face expressing his sarcasm as he stood too, reaching for a business card.

Emily laughed, before shaking her head, completely missing Agent Jareau’s return. “I really hope that wasn’t an attempt to flirt with me, cos for one, it was terrible, and two, I’m sorry, I prefer my dates to be rather less, well,” Emily game him an assessing look. “Male. Sorry.”

“Hey, don’t sweat it. It’s fine. Take it anyway, you still might get buried under your file mountain. Or you know, want to talk to someone for more than ten minutes a day. Plus, at some point I want to see you and my Boy Wonder nerd out over foreign books and films, I think you’d get along really well with him.” 

Emily rolled her eyes, and caught Agent Jareau glaring at her from just outside her office, sighing internally because despite Derek’s assurances, it did appear that the woman was angry with her. A touch on her arm drew her out of her thoughts.

“Hey, I have to go now, JJ’s back and we are probably gonna spend the afternoon going over profiles, but I’m serious. We should be friends, text me some time,” he started heading towards the stairs. “I can introduce you to all the cool people,” he joked as he left.

Emily waved goodbye as she headed towards the doors, grinning and huffing out a small laugh, happy to have somehow made a friend, even if it would also appear she had made someone else dislike her. She pushed the image of Agent Jareau glaring at her out of her mind, dwelling wouldn’t help, and as Derek had said, his team had just come back from a tough case, Agent Jareau was probably just tired, and stressed from the quality of the original translation. Emily would just have to make sure she made a good second impression.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! :)  
> I'm working on getting chapter three up within the next couple of days, but apparently RL keeps keeping on, so I may take a bit longer to get chapter three posted.
> 
> I'd love to hear your thoughts, any feedback is welcome!


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Team drinks, (minor) medical emergencies, and quality Henry time await for JJ.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so the tags _do_ say slow burn, so no-one can blame me for Emily and JJ not meeting properly for another couple of chapters right? I swear they're gonna meet at some point, it wont take 50 chapters. Just maybe one or two more.
> 
> Thank you so much to everyone who has read, commented, kudosed and/or followed this story! I am so glad so many people are enjoying what I am writing, I love you all!
> 
> I am sorry for not updating sooner, health problems are kicking my butt right now so updates might be sort of slow for a while.
> 
> Regardless, here is chapter three, once again beta read by the wonderful [Phoenix_Falls](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Phoenix_Falls)

A couple of weeks had passed since the incident with the translator. JJ was glad that since then, there hadn’t seemed to be any problems with the translations the teams had received, and she was especially glad none of the cases her team had worked on had needed translations. As much as she had tried to push the incident out of her mind, she really didn’t want to have to deal with that woman again, and she was relieved that she hadn’t seen her in the bullpen flirting with Morgan, or any of the other BAU agents.

The team had finally been given a long weekend after a couple of tough back to back cases. As much as JJ was looking forward to spending time with Henry for the first time in what felt like a month, she needed to unwind a bit first, so she agreed to drinks with the rest of the team. It had become a tradition, a way to decompress after tough cases, with people who would understand how you were feeling. Because of this, the team tended not to invite dates or significant others on those nights. As such, JJ was mildly surprised when Morgan grinned at the group standing in the hallway, waiting for the elevator and announced, “I’ve invited a friend along tonight, she’s pretty new in town and really needs to get out more.”

“Derek Morgan, are you bringing a date to our drinks night?” Rossi teased.

“She’s not a date, she’s just a friend. Who really needs more friends,” Morgan replied.

“Wait, my hunk of chocolatey goodness is dating someone? And I wasn’t the first to know?” A teasingly indignant voice preceded the brightly colored Tech Analyst, as Garcia rounded the corner, finally joining the group. “Sorry, I just had to finish up some things.”

“Not. A. Date.” Morgan said, running a frustrated hand over his head. “And anyway, if I ever do have a date, you’ll always be the first to know, Baby Girl.” He looped an arm around Garcia’s shoulder, bringing her in for a sideways hug.

“Alright, well, let’s get going. The sooner we get there, the sooner we can start drinking,” Rossi pushed the button to call the elevator now their last member had joined them. “Hotch said he’d meet us there, he had to talk to the Section Chief about something.” 

The team headed to their regular haunt, and set up in one of the booths in the back corner, grabbing a couple of stools to round out the table. As they got settled in, ordering their drinks and some table food, Morgan’s phone started to explode with messages.

“Everything okay Morgan?” JJ asked, mildly irritated at the interruption to their fun, but concerned that something may be wrong.

“Yeah, Emily’s just kinda nervous about meeting everyone, so she’s sending me panic messages. And possibly threatening to curse me if this goes horribly? I’m not entirely sure,” He sent a puzzled look at his phone before replying with a slight grin. “It’s fine, you’ll all think she’s great. Pen and Spencer will be happy to have someone else to nerd out with, you can have someone to complain about paperwork with,” He laughed as he got hit in the face with a crumpled napkin thrown by JJ. 

“I’m pretty sure you guys do more paperwork than I do.”

“Ugh, please, don’t remind me,” Morgan dramatically lay his head on the table and groaned some more. “I have so many files on my desk, it could be considered torture.”

JJ was about to reply, but she was interrupted by her phone ringing. Checking who it was, she panicked slightly seeing it was the babysitter. As she picked up her phone she mentally checked, she had definitely told the sitter that she would be late home tonight, so it couldn’t be that. Something must be wrong. Quickly excusing herself from the table, she made her way outside where it was quieter.

“Hey, what’s wrong?” JJ didn’t bother with pleasantries.

“Um, sorry to ruin your night, but Henry seems to be coming down with something. He was sorta grizzly all day, but he’s just thrown up his dinner and he seems to be running a temperature. I was wondering if you wanted me to take him to the emergency room or if you wanted to come home and check him out first?” JJ could hear Henry wailing in the background, and the sounds of the sitter moving around, possibly trying to clean up the mess.

“Just get him cleaned up, I’ll be there as soon as I can,” she said heading back inside to let the team know she had to leave.

As she was leaving the bar, she saw the woman from the translations office heading in. JJ frowned, it seemed like the woman was appearing at the most inconvenient times. Hoping the woman wouldn’t try and talk to her, or apologize for her shoddy translation work, JJ kept her head down and headed for her car. She had to get home to Henry.

Henry was still crying when JJ got home. He had been cleaned up, and the sitter was trying to keep him as calm as possible. Henry immediately reached for his mom the second he saw her.

“Has he thrown up again? Did you check for a fever? Are there any other symptoms you can tell me?” JJ barraged the sitter with questions while getting Henry settled on her hip, one hand making soothing circles on his back.

The sitter pulled out a slip of paper. “He was acting a bit grizzly all day, he had a runny nose but I thought that maybe he was coming down with a cold. But then he really didn’t want to eat his dinner, and when he finally did finish it he threw it all up again so I don’t think it’s a cold,” She looked at Henry. “I’m sorry I didn’t let you know sooner, I thought he was fine.”

Henry whimpered a bit. “Mommy, I feel icky. I don’t like it,” He buried his head into JJ’s side.

JJ dropped a kiss on his head before smiling at the sitter. “It’s okay Sophie, you did fine. Thank you for calling me when you did. Did you need a ride home or did you drive here?”

“Oh, I drove. I’ll just get my stuff sorted and head off.”

“No need to rush, at the moment I don’t think Henry needs the emergency room, I’ll just see how he goes overnight. I’ve got the next couple of days off so I’ll keep an eye on him.”

JJ settled down on the couch with Henry in her lap, holding him close and trying to keep him calm while Sophie gathered her gear and got organized to leave. After Sophie left, JJ spent the rest of the evening holding Henry, telling him stories and singing softly to him as he clung to her. At one point she decided that a bubble bath might cheer him up, even though it was well past his bed time. The distraction worked well, and she was relieved to hear his laugh and see him smile even if it was only for a short amount of time. She hated seeing him miserable.

Eventually, an exhausted Henry fell asleep in JJ’s arms, and she tucked him in to bed, placing a kiss on his still warm brow, before collapsing into bed herself. She woke in the morning to an excited Henry poking her, holding his top above his head and proudly announcing. “I’m a planet Mommy!”

He was covered in chicken pox.

JJ seriously considered pulling a pillow over her head and pretending this wasn’t happening. She sighed and got out of bed.

“Good morning to you too mister. You are a planet! Look at all those craters. How are you feeling today?” She herded Henry downstairs, hoping that he would keep his breakfast down.

“’M better. Can we have blueberry pancakes?” He asked hopping onto his chair, looking at JJ hopefully.

“Sure sweetie,” JJ smiled at her son. “Just let me know if you start to feel bad again.”

While the pancakes were cooking, JJ searched up chicken pox online, and decided that while he didn’t seem too bothered by them, she would just make sure she cut his nails and would keep him inside until the spots had scabbed. She quickly sent a message to Sophie letting her know what had happened, just in case she hadn’t had chicken pox as a child. Then JJ began planning activities that would keep Henry distracted for the weekend while the itching was the worst, and wondering if taping socks to hands was actually a valid way to prevent scratching.

JJ’s long weekend was spent with an unimpressed, and eventually very itchy Henry. After a couple of hours of being impressed with his ‘craters’ he realized they were very itchy, and weren’t going away any time soon. JJ managed to stop him scratching to badly with a combination of baths, moisturizer, and calamine lotion, dropped off by Reid when he heard about what had befallen his godson.

It was times like this when JJ hated being a single parent. This sort of situation would be made so much easier with a second pair of hands to help out. However much she might want another person to help in situations like this, she didn’t regret kicking Will to the curb when she did. He outed her pregnancy to her team in a move that screamed of manipulation, he wanted her to give up her job and stay at home, and any time she tried to argue against his points he would try and guilt her into agreeing with him. No, she would never regret leaving Will, she just sometimes regretted the fact that she would probably end up a crazy cat lady once Henry left home.

Maybe it was time to get back into dating JJ wondered to herself the night before she was due back at work. Henry’s spots had begun to scab over, so in a couple of day’s he’d be allowed out of the house and back at preschool. When he was feeling less itchy, Henry was very cuddly, climbing onto JJ’s lap when she was sitting and just attaching himself to her. He would often fall asleep that way and JJ was loathe to move him, she missed this when she was away and she often worried that her absences were going to have a negative effect on Henry, so she always made sure to spend as much time as possible with him when she was home. Looking at the clock she decided she had a couple of hours before she had to go to bed to get enough sleep for work tomorrow and shuffled down to lie on the couch, Henry still sleeping away on top of her.

She spent that time thinking. Maybe she _should_ put herself back out there. Not because she wanted another person to raise Henry with, although of course anyone she was serious about would have to love her son as much as she did, but because she was somewhat lonely. Sure, she had Henry, and she wouldn’t trade him for the world, but he was a toddler, she couldn’t tell a four-year-old what she did at work, and more than ‘mommy helps catch bad guys,’ or about her fears and nightmares. And she had her team, and she loved hanging out with them, but they weren’t there on the nights when her thoughts went in circles, or when she just wanted someone to hold her and tell her everything would be okay. No, JJ wanted to find someone for all of that, someone who could love her, and her son, and be there through the good and the bad. She pulled out her phone and installed Tinder even though she really doubted she would find what she was looking for on a dating app.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! I hope you're enjoying the story so far. Next chapter will be Emily meeting the BAU (minus JJ of course), and then we get into the fun of them actually 'meeting' for the first time!
> 
> If you've enjoyed it, comments and kudos are super appreciated :)


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Emily meets (most) of the BAU, and makes new friends!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi.
> 
> Sorry that I’ve not updated this fic in over two months, life kept getting in the way. The short version is the universe hates fun. As such, I have tried to spite the universe by making this chapter as much fun as possible. I may have failed, there’s a lot of social interaction in this chapter which I found really hard to write, but it was also quite fun once I got into the rhythm of it.
> 
> I would also like to lodge a complaint with whoever decided to remove the ‘u’ from colour and favourite and probably a million other words in America. It makes writing hard cos I have to keep changing words, and I’m lazy and don’t wanna… 
> 
> Big thanks to [Phoenix_Falls](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Phoenix_Falls/) and [w00t4ewan](https://archiveofourown.org/users/w00t4ewan) for betaing, correcting my mistakes, helping re-word weird sentences, for helping me figure out American geography/where the BAU actually is (I have learnt not to skim read wikipedia articles while super tired), and for helping with figuring out how to have text messages in a fic. And thank you to you, my readers who have been so patient and wonderful. I love you all.
> 
> (also, sorry if you get notified multiple times about this chapter, A03 kept eating half of it)

Emily had been nervous all day. She was supposed to be meeting Derek’s team that evening and was somewhat worried as to how that would go. She already knew that their communications liaison Agent Jareau didn’t like her, although she wasn’t sure what she’d done to upset the agent. She was worried that communicating with them all would be difficult. Only Derek knew ASL, and she didn’t want to monopolize his time for the evening, they were his friends, naturally he would want to have time with them without having to act as an interpreter for Emily.

As she headed to the bar she was supposed to be meeting Derek and his friends at, she decided to double check, and make sure that she should be showing up.  
Emily {text}: Hey, just double checking that I’m meeting you tonight. I’ve just finished the last of my paperwork.

She immediately sent another message.

 **Emily {text}:** _I don’t have to show up if it’s gonna be too difficult. I don’t want to impose or anything._

And a third follow up message.

 **Emily {text}:** _I also don’t want to like, monopolize your time or anything. You shouldn’t have to spend your night acting as an interpreter so I can meet your friends._

Emily then began to worry that she had sent too many messages, and was seeming to needy. This friendship thing was hard. There was a reason she tended towards not socializing, it was just so much easier to not have to worry about communicating with people.

Her phone buzzed with an incoming message.

 **Derek {text}:** _Emily, chill. It’s fine, we’ll figure it out. Everyone’s excited to meet you. Although I do warn you, Garcia might want to interrogate you, she *might* think we’re dating… :p_

Emily rolled her eyes at the phone, from what she’d heard about Penelope Garcia, the ‘interrogation’ would probably be just plying her with drinks, and then gossiping about Derek. Feeling slightly calmer about the situation, she headed up the stairs to the bar. As she entered the bar she noticed Agent Jareau leaving, brow furrowed in concern, phone up to her ear. Emily hoped everything was okay, and that the BAU team weren’t being called away on another case, she had been messaging Derek over the past couple of weeks and knew his team had been slammed with a couple of really tough cases recently, they deserved a break.

Making her way to the bar, Emily ordered a drink, deciding some liquid courage would help with the nerves of meeting new people. It took a while to catch the bartender’s attention, and to get her order placed, but finally her drink was delivered. Then, drink in hand and practiced smile firmly affixed to her face, she went in search of Derek. The smile relaxed into something more genuine when Derek caught her eye and waved her over enthusiastically.

Looking at the group that had occupied one of the booths in the back corner, she tried to identify who was who, matching names and storied from Derek to faces. It wasn’t overly difficult, the BAU team was fairly diverse, and Derek had described his team and their personalities well.

Penelope Garcia was easy to spot, the only woman on the team other than Agent Jareau. Dressed in a bright, floral dress with a pink cardigan over top, her clothes seemed to match her personality: bright, bubbly, and friendly. From conversations with Derek, Emily had learnt that the two of them had a solid friendship, full of playful teasing and flirting that may or may not have led to a sexual harassment seminar or two being forced on the unit.

Spencer Reid, Derek’s ‘boy wonder’ was sitting with what looked like a glass of soda in front of him. He was engaged in conversation with Garcia, his mouth seeming to move a mile a minute, and his hand moving not much slower. He seemed alarmingly young to be working with the BAU, but from what Derek had said, he had more than earned his place on the team.

David Rossi, Emily knew the name even before Derek had mentioned him. He was famous both within the FBI and in the wider world, as a bestselling author as well as being one of the founders of the BAU. He was also listening to Reid, occasionally interjecting, but seemingly somewhat more focused on the whiskey in front of him.

The only people missing were Aaron Hotchner their team leader, and Agent Jareau who hadn’t yet returned from the call Emily had seen her leaving the bar to take. Mentally shrugging – it was none of her business after all – she waved back at Derek and headed over to join him, deliberately squashing the butterflies in her stomach.

As she reached the booth, Derek kicked out a stool that had apparently been appropriated from a nearby, unoccupied table. Emily smiled at the group and sat. Just as she was about to introduce herself to everyone Penelope started talking.

“You must be Emily, it’s nice to meet you! I would say I’ve heard great things about you, but alas, my Chocolate Adonis hasn’t actually told us anything about you,” she finished her sentence with a very pointed look at Derek before brightening again. “But that’s okay, it gives us more to talk about. What’s your star sign? Your favorite color? Pineapple on pizza yes or no?”

Emily sat for a moment, trying to process the barrage of questions sent her way, and slowly working through it in her head to make sure she actually had read Penelope’s lips properly while also tamping down her irritation that Derek hadn’t told them all she was deaf before she’d arrived. Turning to give Derek a pointed look of her own who has the good sense to look sheepish. She then turned back to Penelope and signed her reply, hoping that Derek would still translate for her.

“Well, I’m born in early October,” Emily paused, frowning. “So, I’m pretty sure that makes me a Libra, I think. My favorite color is black, and I like pineapple on some pizza, but only if I know it’s there. If there is surprise pineapple I’m out. It’s nice to meet you too, and I really hope you’ll help me hide Derek’s body when I kill him for not telling you all I’m deaf.” Emily’s signs were clipped by the end, showing her frustration but she still smiled as Derek trailed off with a wounded “Hey…” when his brain caught up with the words.

Penelope grinned at Emily. “Of course I’ll help. Even better, I can make any trace of him disappear from the internet or any other electronic source. No one will even realize he’s missing,” She shrugged. “Or, you know, I could just destroy his credit score, and hack his Facebook page.”

Emily grinned back, she liked Penelope. The other two had been watching the conversation like it was a three-way tennis match, gazes bouncing between Emily, Penelope and Derek.

“Okay, yeah I’m sorry I didn’t say anything. I sort of forgot?” Derek said, running a hand over his head then rubbing his neck. “Please don’t kill me, and do not touch my Facebook page, I’ve only just fixed everything from last time, it took me ages to figure out how to change it from pirate to normal English,” His hands flew as he signed as well as speaking.

"How do you ‘forget’?” Emily asked, as at the same time Penelope held up a cellphone and waved it a bit.

“Too late Morgan, I’m already changing your religion to Jedi.”

“Ooh, no change it to Sith, he’s definitely not on the light side of the Force,” Spencer interjected, leaning over to peer at the phone.

Derek looked on helplessly as the two fiddled with his phone.

David Rossi, who had seemingly been ignoring the groups antics turned to Emily, rolling his eyes as Derek leaned across the table and tried to grab his phone back.

“Hi, I’m David Rossi. It’s nice to meet you. I’m sorry about the rest of these idiots,” He gestured to the three other BAU members who seemed to be having a slap fight at the booth, before holding his hand out to Emily. Emily grasped his hand, noting as his eyebrows rose slightly at her sure grip, and mentally giving grudging thanks to her mother who insisted she learn to shake hands properly. _“Regardless of anything else Emily,” She would say. “A good first impression is imperative. It takes seven seconds for a person to form an opinion of you, and you’ll never get a second chance at a first impression.”_

Emily smiled back at David, then glanced at the small scuffle at the other end of the table and gave a small shrug while laughing and shaking her head. It was nice, the group was welcoming and it felt good to be out with people. She didn’t want to admit it, not even to herself, but Emily was lonely, moving to a new city was isolating enough without the added difficulty of a disability. But as nice as it was, the only person she could talk to, or more accurately, the person she was relying on to translate for her so she could talk to everyone else, had Spencer in a loose headlock and was still trying to get his phone back from Penelope.

Eventually, Derek accepted his punishment, and gave up trying to get his phone back, ordering another round of drinks for the table instead. The table settled into easy banter, talking about weekend plans and telling Emily about the sights around DC that she should definitely check out when she had time. Arron ‘call me Hotch, everyone else does’ Hotchner, the unit chief had shown up about ten minutes after Derek had given up trying to get his phone back, he seemed very serious and Emily was surprised at how easily he slipped into the easy back and forward between the group; his suit and demeanor giving the impression of distant professionalism belying his sense of humour that quickly became apparent. Agent Jareau had not returned to the group, but Penelope’s phone has chimed and she had told the group that the missing member had gone home because Henry was sick. Emily was quietly relieved, she was having a nice night and didn’t want to have to think about the beautiful woman who for some reason seemed to dislike her. She immediately felt guilty about feeling relieved, she didn’t know who Henry was, but being sick was never fun.

After a couple of rounds of drinks, Hotch headed home to his son and the rest of the group decided to have an impromptu ASL lesson. Emily was amazed. Here was a group of people who regularly saw the worst of humanity, who finally had some time away from it, and they were spending their time learning to talk to her. She’d never had that before, not since Rome.

The lesson wasn’t going very well. Penelope was too fast, she didn’t finish one sign before moving on to the next. Spencer was too stiff. When she told him this, Derek and Penelope both cracked up laughing, ignoring Emily’s glare, while Spencer just looked mildly frustrated.

“I will end you Derek Morgan,” Emily threatened. “Don’t tempt me.” She wasn’t threatening enough apparently, because as soon as she finished signing her threat at him he looked from her to Spencer and started laughing again.

Giving up on the impromptu lesson, Emily stared into her drink hoping it would provide answers, or at least, an idea of how to murder Derek without leaving evidence to implicate her. She didn’t find it, but she did find herself smiling despite herself, enjoying the camaraderie and the atmosphere.

She left the bar that night with Derek, Penelope and Spencer as Facebook friends, as well as Penelope’s number and an order to text her so they can organize a girl’s night. Derek had finally rescued his phone from Penelope’s grasp and was grumbling about fixing the settings, and getting a better password.

  
________________________________________

  
The Monday after Emily met most of the BAU at the bar she was back to work, relieved that the hangover had only lasted Saturday morning, leaving the rest of the weekend for unpacking, and Netflix binges wrapped up in blankets with Sergio. Although Sergio, being a cat, quickly grew bored of cuddles and continued exploring his new territory.

She had been messaging both Derek and Penelope over the weekend, Derek was still complaining that he couldn’t get Facebook to work how it was supposed to, he would let Emily know this with a frankly excessive amount of capital letters and emojis. Emily responded to every one of those messages in perfect English, using the correct grammar and making sure there were no spelling mistakes, she wasn’t sure who’s messaging habits were annoying who more with those conversations, but it was fun.

The messages she’d been exchanging with Penelope were a lot more normal. They had talked about the new season of Doctor Who, and Emily had been inundated with book recommendations and links to cat videos. In response she had started sending videos back of Sergio attacking her boxes and packaging.

She was in line at the coffee shop near the Academy, like she was almost every morning before work when the man in front of her starting hitting on her. She tried to ignore him by pulling her phone out and making it very clear she didn’t want him talking to her, but it didn’t seem to deter him.

She flicked a quick message to Penelope.

 **Emily {text}:** _Ugh, some guy is hitting on me. Whyyy?? I just want my coffee_ :(

Her phone buzzed immediately with the reply.

 **Penelope {text}:** _Lol is he hot?_

Emily glared at her phone, and then at the guy who finally seemed to get the message that she wasn’t interested.

 **Emily {text}:** _I dunno, maybe? If you’re into that I guess. But you know, the whole harassing people when they just want their coffee is a huge turn off for me. Also the fact that he’s a guy_ ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯

Emily shoved her phone in her pocket, finally at the front of the queue. The usual cashier was on register, they looked like they needed to be in bed asleep instead of behind a counter serving customers, but Emily supposed when you needed money a job was a job.

“Hey Em, the usual today?” Stevie asked. “I’ve just had like 4 shots of coffee mixed with a red bull, I can’t recommend it for its taste, but I can recommend it if you ever need to pull an all-nighter and still be awake the next day” they were grinning but they made sure to speak clearly enough that Emily could understand them. They had a sticker on their nametag with ‘they/them’ printed on it. It had clearly been printed on a label maker, but Stevie noticed Emily look at it and bounced slightly. “We all have them, I think Dave did it last night. It’s really cool!”

Emily nodded and smiled back, handing over enough for her coffee and a sizeable tip, before pointing at the sticker and giving a thumbs-up.

Checking her phone as she waited for her coffee, Emily had three new messages from Penelope.

 **Penelope {text}:** _Lol well I can introduce you to non hit-on-you-when-you-just-want-coffee guys if you want_

 **Penelope {text}:** _wait…_

 **Penelope {text}:** _OH SHIT. Soz, I can introduce you to non hit-on-you-when-you-just-want-coffee *girls* if you want?_

She typed a quick reply, while keeping an eye out for her coffee.

 **Emily {text}:** _Haha, thanks. If you find any send them my way :p It’s pretty hard finding people to date._

 **Penelope {text}:** _Well, at least I don’t have to worry about you stealing my Chocolate God of Thunder_ XD

Emily’s coffee was ready and Stevie waved her over for it, wishing her a good day at work. Emily nodded at them, and gave a small wave as she left, taking a long sip of her coffee. Sweet caffeine, she thought as it warmed her from the inside. She felt her phone buzz again.

 **Penelope {text}:** _Have you tried Tinder? I’ve heard stories of people finding their soulmates on it. Although, I’ve also heard stories of people getting real creepers who can’t take no for an answer too so ymmv_

Emily snorted.

  **Emily {text}:** _I have, but I guess new city and all that. And I would hope if I have my preference set to women only the number of jackasses should be greatly reduced._

 **Penelope {text}:** _Ah, one hopes. But don’t underestimate the desperateness of a man who just *has* to get what he wants, no matter if the other person is interested or not. Although, if it happens let me know and I’ll destroy them_ <3

 Shaking her head Emily headed to her office, and if she downloaded Tinder while she walked? Well, no one else need ever to know.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading!
> 
> This is the the longest chapter I've done so far, but hopefully it was still good and you enjoyed the team interactions.
> 
> I know Tinder is mostly a hook-up app, but, at least where I live, it’s pretty much the only way to meet queer people cos they don’t use other dating sites and we don’t really have and gay bars (well there’s one but it’s pretty much guys only), so suspend your disbelief, I’m just goin with what I know.
> 
> Feedback is greatly appreciated! I can't guarantee when the next chapter will be up because the universe still hates fun, but feel free to scream at me about stuff on my [tumblr](http://puddlejumper9.tumblr.com)

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading!  
> I should be getting the next chapter up soon. Feedback is hugely appreciated! It helps fuel my writing.


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